Tim ... I would guess so. Probably when purchased. You could upgrade the agitator, I'm sure, for an additional amount (probably $10). You're right; they originally came with the low post agitator and I just happen to have a brand new black one!! I am guessing there was a turquoise no post agitator; it seems like I've seen a photo of one on this website before! Those low post agitators don't really wash well. When Maytag invented the agitator in 1922, they only had no post agitators; can't remember what date they created the post agitator; sometime shortly after 1922.
Greg ... $35 was too good to pass up; the guy was a real gentleman. He knew he had a bit of a collectible but wasn't obnoxious about it. Of all things, he was using this machine and a BEAUTIFUL E (which I really wanted, too, but it was sold to a woman who wanted it to clean cucumbers for pickles ... for Pete's sake) for his supply of bird feed holders; he would put 50 lbs at a time in the machine and stored it in the garage!! Well ... at least the bird feed didn't damage the tubs and the machines were garaged.
$99.95 was the amount; that's right. PLUS a trade-in. Not sure what they did if you didn't have a trade.
The balloon rollers work well on flat items like towels, sheets, t-shirts, etc. I washed blue jeans in it on Sunday and the seams of the jeans were pretty wet, so was the hip area. Blue jeans are usually pretty wet but this was a little wetter than normal. The balloon rollers tend to "give" to the fabric; less wrinkly, too!
